The Destruction of Economic Babylon Part II. Revelation 18:4-20
Revelation chapter eighteen
focuses on the final fulfillment of the judgments on Babylon. Chapter seventeen focuses more on Babylon in terms of the religious network of ideas that come
out from it as the final form of the kingdom of man and chapter eighteen
focuses more on the economic system. We need to keep in mind that there is this
connection between the economics, which has to do with all manner of
economics—not just economic theory in terms of socialism or Marxism, capitalism
or various other shades of theory, but economic activity in terms of man’s
basic orientation to labor and the planet. The root of economics is the
production that comes from labor and how that production is used in various
ways within the social structure of the human race. What this points out as we
think about the connection between chapters 17 & 18 is that it shows once
again that we can’t distinguish different areas of human activity from
religious orientation—from how a person or a society or a culture views God.
That relationship to God affects their views on law, politics, economics,
labor, on the value and use of money, all of these factors. So we see that the
judgment from God first falls on the religious orientation which is the center,
the root of everything else, and then upon the economics because once the
economics are judged everything else just collapses. The world is going to go
into truly the greatest depression, the greatest economic collapse, and nothing
will be left.
One of the key elements in
developing a biblical view of labor and of economics is that the ultimate owner
of the earth is God. Under His sovereignty God is the one who owns all of the
land and all of the production and the human race is viewed as a steward who is
to faithfully utilize that land. In the original creation mandate in Genesis
1:26, 27 man is to rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air and the
beasts of the field as God’s representative. Under sin what happens is that
man, because of his arrogance and self-absorbed nature, wants to utilize
everything God has created for his own pleasure, aggrandizement and power until
this is taken to its fullest extent, as seen in the kingdom of Babylon at the end time. This sets up the basic indictment relating to the
nations, kings of the earth, and the merchants of the earth. There is only one
group that is left out of this and which comes up later in the chapter: the
seamen, those who are involved in commerce related to the seas.
Then we see a shift to
more of what are specifics. Revelation 18:4 NASB “I heard
another voice from heaven, saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, so that you
will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues…’” This other voice
from heaven could most likely the Father’s voice because we have seen this in
the past. God at this time is in the temple and in the preparation for the bowl
judgments everyone evacuates the temple, and when we look at chapter 16 dealing
with those bowl judgments there was a voice that came from heaven, the voice of
God. This verse has some interesting implications here because God is
addressing Babylon. This is the woman that has been represented as the
great harlot in chapter 17 and is represented as this terrible wanton system of
extravagant materialism and rebelliousness toward God; yet even in the midst of
that city there are a number of believers. They are called “My people.” This
really shows something about the grace of God and the depravity of man in that
you can’t get caught up in the kind of a trap that we often find with many of
us, many believers, when we think of certain people working in a certain kind
of job or profession or living a certain lifestyle. We ask how in the world
they can be a Christian and do that, live like that or act like that. It is
because as individuals, even though we may be saved, we are not necessarily
mature enough in our knowledge of the Word to make wise choices. In many case
there are believers who are so attracted to the world’s system, so tempted and
enticed by the world’s system, that they are never able to really remove
themselves from it. This is true even in the Tribulation. With all of the
things that are going on there is still a group that has been saved, redeemed,
and living in the midst of sin city, Babylon, at the end of the Tribulation. God calls upon them
in warning. The command emphasizes urgency, it is not an invitation, but a
warning to evacuate now lest they be caught up in the judgment. There is a call
to separation—“so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her
plagues”—so that they don’t become influenced and tempted by all of the
enticements of the cosmic system. The term “plagues” is one that John often
uses to refer to the judgments that God is pouring out on the earth.
This idea of coming out
and fleeing and leaving has a parallel in two key passages that we have looked
at in the past related to unfulfilled prophecy and Babylon. Jeremiah 50:8 NASB “Wander away from the
midst of Babylon And go forth from the land of the Chaldeans; Be also
like male goats at the head of the flock.” This has to do with leading out of
an area. Jeremiah 51:6-9 echoes this same command to flee from the midst of
Babylon NASB “Flee from the midst of Babylon, And each of you save his life! Do not be destroyed
in her punishment, For this is the LORD’S time of vengeance; He is going to render recompense
to her. Babylon has been a golden cup in the hand of the LORD,
Intoxicating all the earth. The nations have drunk of her wine; Therefore the
nations are going mad. Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been
broken; Wail over her! Bring balm for her pain; Perhaps she may be healed.
We applied healing to Babylon, but she was not healed; Forsake her and let us each
go to his own country, For her judgment has reached to heaven And towers up to
the very skies.” Notice the prophecy pictures an immediate and sudden collapse,
something that was not expected, a surprise.
Revelation 18:5 “for her sins have piled up as high as
heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.” This is a further
explanation, indicated in the Greek by the initial word that is translated
“for,” which is translated a little differently in the English. It is the word hoti [o(ti]
which usually indicates cause. We get a greater sense of this when we read it,
“because her sins…” This is what now has, it seems, moved God in His justice to
bring judgment upon Babylon. There
a couple of idioms in this verse; neither one of these statements are
understood in a literal sense. We use idioms all the time but the idioms have a
literal meaning. The first idiomatic phrase is, “her sins have piled up as high
as heaven.” The idea is that her sins have now become so egregious and extreme
that God must act. So we get an idea even in the English of the increase of the
sinfulness of Babylon so that now
finally something has to be done. The Greek word, kallao [kallaw],
means to join, to cleave to, to stick to something. It is used in Luke 10:11 to
refer to the dust that clings to the inside of a cup. It has the idea of
joining something together, so we could translate with this sense of meaning:
“[Babylon’s] sins cling to her unto
heaven.” But the word was also used in an idiomatic sense to convey the idea of
things being brought together and piled up on top of each other—sins would
cling to each other, attach themselves to each other in the same way as bricks
being laid in a building, and it brings to mind the building of the tower of
Babel, the idea of building one brick upon another in order to reach heaven.
That is the idea here and why it is stated in this particular way. Now her sins
have piled up so much that they have been brought to the attention of God (figure
of speech).
What this is doing is saying that God now after a lengthy
pause in His direct involvement with Babylon
when He has allowed those in Babylon
to have unrestrained rebellion against Him is going to execute His punishment.
We see this in other verses of Scripture, e.g. Revelation 16:19 NASB
“The great city was split into three parts, and
the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered [passive voice] before God, to
give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath.” In 18:5 the word
“iniquities” is the Greek word adikemata
[a)dikhmata], from dike
[dikh] which means righteousness, and the negative prefix
it means without righteousness. It was a word that was often used to refer to
indictable offenses, crimes. So once again we see the heavy emphasis on the
legal structure here of the judicial system of God; that they are going to be
judged because of their indictable offenses against God.
In the next section from
vv. 6-8 there is an address to do something. Who is being addressed here?
Revelation 18:6 NASB “Pay her back even as she has paid, and give
back {to her} double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed,
mix twice as much for her. [7] To the degree that she glorified
herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning;
for she says in her heart, ‘I SIT {as} A QUEEN
AND I AM NOT A WIDOW, and will never see
mourning.’” Obviously the theme of divine judgment and justice continues.
But who is being commanded to “render to her just as she rendered to you”?
There are a couple of options. One would be the Antichrist and his army.
Remember the context here is the very end of the Tribulation as the nations are
being gathered together at Armageddon. Another option would be the enemies that
are coming against the Antichrist. Someone is going to be wiping out Babylon. The best option seems to be that it is the
Antichrist and his allies, the ten kings, who bring this destruction upon Babylon. This is based on an understanding of Revelation 17:16, 17 NASB “And the ten horns which you saw,
and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked,
and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire. For God has put it in their hearts to execute His
purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast,
until the words of God will be fulfilled.” So here we see how God uses human
agents to bring about His judgments on mankind. Verse 6 begins with the word
“render” or “pay back,” the Greek word apodidomi
[a)podidomi]. It means to give away, give up, to give back, to
sell, in some cases to give back that which is due, or to make recompense for
something. The idea here is to give payment back on what is due, to repay. “…
even as she has paid” is a key principle that comes out of the Mosaic Law and
is embedded in divine justice, i.e. the penalty fits the crime. Why is this
judgment double here? Because it is punishment, repayment.
If this punishment is this
massive destruction of Babylon just think how horrible the act of sin and idolatry
and rebellion must truly be. When we think about the end game punishment for
all believers as eternity in the lake of fire we have to understand that if God
is truly just, and is truly a God of love as well, and is consistent with His
revelation that the penalty must fit the crime, then that must tell us that the
act, the crime, the sin of rebellion against God must indeed be so horrible and
destructive and terrible in its consequences that we perhaps need to rethink
our whole concept of sin. Adam’s sin didn’t seem to be very much, just eating a
piece of fruit, was so bad that the fabric of the universe and reality
reverberated through everything; it changed the physical structure of the
universe. It brought violence, war and famine, and all of these things came
into the experience of mankind all because of that one little decision. Notice
in verse 7, “in the measure.” According to the degree that she did something.
The punishment fits the crime. At the very core of her motivation is the idea
that she is trying to avoid pain, suffering and punishment. We live in an era
of excessive mandates for safety, even though as kids we all managed to grow
up. We might have knocked out a tooth or two or broken an arm and we managed to
survive. It is good to take precautions and to be reasonable safe and secure,
but there is something going on behind all of this and what it reflects is that
we live in a culture where people are scared to death of death; they are
fearful of dying. And they don’t have a biblical orientation to suffering or a
biblical understanding of death, so they are at the very core of their being
very much afraid and try to protect themselves in every way from letting
anything possibly happen that could cause death—because they really don’t know
what is on the other side. We are going to see this in an extreme way based on
this verse in the Tribulation period where this whole culture is wrapped up in
trying to avoid seeing sorrow and really coming to grips with suffering and
grief in life.
This depicts an extremely
arrogant, self-absorbed attitude that the culture depicted in Babylon is one that seeks to psychologically wipe out the
facts of the fall, which is what brings sorrow. There is only one thing that is
going to wipe out sorrow and that is when we are face to face with the Lord in
eternity, in the Millennial kingdom, where there is no more sorrow, no more
pain, etc. Only God, because of the redemption of the cross can produce a life
and culture where there is no sorrow, grief or pain. This shows again that the
orientation of the Babylonian culture is an orientation towards
self-sufficiency apart from God and solving all of man’s problems completely
apart from Him.
Revelation 18:8 NASB “For this reason in one
day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be
burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong.”
The resulting judgments are announced, because of this self-absorbed arrogance
and self-deification. She is going to get death, mourning and sorrow. The words
“in one day her plagues will come” is not to be taken in an extremely literal
sense that this is all going to happen within a 24-hour period, the phrase “one
day” indicates that it is a short time. It will be shorter than a 24-hour
period; it is going to all take place within a very short time. In verse 10 it
is “one hour” and in verses 17 and 19 also “one hour,” so it is talking about
the immediacy, the suddenness; it is completely unexpected. She is destroyed by
fire as Isaiah 34:8-10 states; and this has never happened before, so it will
be a fulfillment of those prophecies. Then there is a lament that is going to
take place because of her death. Three groups are brought into focus. The first
is the kings of the earth, the second is going to be the merchants, and the
third is the seafarers who are the merchant marines.
Revelation 18:9 NASB “And
the kings of the earth, who committed {acts of} immorality and lived sensuously
with her, will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her
burning.” Who are these kings of the earth? Are these the same as the ten kings
who are allied with the Antichrist? According to chapter 17:16, 17 it is those
ten kings that are going to destroy the city, so these kings would not be the
same as those kings. These would be those kings who are hostile to the
Antichrist and his alliance, so this represents another group of political and
national leaders who were completely allied with Babylon and in bed with the same philosophy. This is not the
Antichrist’s allies because they participate in her destruction; this is
another group, the enemies of the Antichrist who lament for her because she is
destroyed. Time-wise this will take place at the beginning of the campaign of
Armageddon.
Revelation 18:10 NASB “standing at a distance because of
the fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one hour your judgment has
come.’” They are just stunned and in grief and mourning, and
everything they have worked hard to build and everything they looked at for
stability is destroyed and wiped out. [11] “And the
merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargoes
any more—” The markets are wiped out at this point. Nothing is left; there is
no buying or selling or trading because this event wipes out all commerce. [12]
“cargoes of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls and fine linen and
purple and silk and scarlet, and every {kind of} citron wood and every article
of ivory and every article {made} from very costly wood and bronze and iron and
marble, [13] and cinnamon and spice and incense and perfume and
frankincense and wine and olive oil and fine flour and wheat and cattle and
sheep, and {cargoes} of horses and chariots and slaves and human lives.”
Human trafficking, buying and selling of men.
Revelation 18:14 NASB “The fruit you long for has gone from
you, and all things that were luxurious and splendid have passed away from you
and {men} will no longer find them.” They wanted peace, security, a stable
economic system where there would be no fear of market collapse, no fear of
poverty or war. All of that has collapsed because man cannot achieve real peace
apart from God. This is an extremely strong statement in the Greek emphasizing
the impossibility of ever covering those things again. [15] “The merchants of
these things, who became rich from her, will stand at a distance because of the
fear of her torment, weeping and mourning, [16] saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great
city, she who was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and adorned
with gold and precious stones and pearls;” indicating her wealth, her luxury,
that she has everything known to man to provide for comfort. [17] “for in one
hour such great wealth has been laid waste!’ And every shipmaster and every
passenger and sailor, and as many as make their living by the sea, stood at a
distance.” And then it impacts on the sea. We have already seen that the salt
seas have been completely wiped out in the bowl judgments. That is the picture.
Everyone around the world just stands in shock, stunned at the destruction of
this economic system. [18] “and were crying out as they saw the smoke of her
burning, saying, ‘What {city} is like the great city?’ [19] “And they threw
dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying, ‘Woe,
woe, the great city, in which all who had ships at sea became rich by her
wealth, for in one hour she has been laid waste!’ [20] “Rejoice
over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has
pronounced judgment for you against her.” This is a direct allusion back to
what happens in the fifth seal where the focus was on those who were martyrs.
Revelation 6:10 NASB “and they cried out with a loud
voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging
and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ [11] And there was
given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest
for a little while longer, until {the number of} their fellow servants and
their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed
also.” That justice they prayed for is what is brought to a conclusion here in
this destruction of Babylon, and this is what brings to an end to the kingdom of
man.
Illustrations